Bill Murphy is the owner of Fresh Monkey Fiction. I came across his Kickstarter campaign and was really intrigued with what I saw. Fresh Monkey Fiction is looking to release an action figure line called Amazing Heroes. The line will consist of primarily Golden Age characters as well as Captain Action and even a character that doubles as the basis for action figure customizers! This project will only be funded if it meets it's goal by Tuesday, Aug 26 2014. The short video below explains more about these Golden Age characters and the Kickstarter campaign. This prompted me to become a backer of Amazing Heroes and want to discuss this potential line further with Bill Murphy.

The introduction video of Amazing Heroes explains a lot about the line and your interest in these Golden Age characters . You mention that you were a typical kid of the 80's , yet were drawn to the more obscure Golden Age comics. How were you introduced to these comics and why do you think they made such an impact on you?﻿Bill Murphy:Well my cousin owed a comic shop when I was a kid and he gave me a bunch of the old Nedor books. I think I liked them as a kid mainly because they were old comics that none of my friends had. I kind of felt like I was the "cool" kid because I had old comics and all my friends had "new" comics. Seems silly now, looking back on it, but something about collecting older comics was fun. This was the 80's, back before ebay, and there were very few comic shops, so this stuff was hard to track down, not too many kids had books that were less than a few years old.

I love the 1980's Mattel Secret Wars style that the Amazing Heroes figures are based on. What lead to that decision and what other formats were discussed in the creative process?

Bill Murphy:Oh we went though many formats, 4", 6", animated style, but we ended up with retro 80's because I really love the Mattel Secret Wars style and something about these retro toys really resonates with folks these days. For me it really brings me back to that time when I was collecting comics and toys in the 80's.

How did Captain Action get introduced into the Amazing Heroes line? He seems like a natural fit for the Amazing Heroes universe.Bill Murphy:We were looking to bring some name recognition to the Amazing Heroes line. I really loved the Captain Action relaunch a few years ago (In fact, I have a Captain Action, Captain America sitting next to me as I type this). Although the character was created a couple of decades after most of the other Amazing Heroes, he feels like he could be a part of those golden age characters.

The standard packaging for Amazing Heroes will be a window box. Will this be collector friendly and be easy to remove from the box and put back with ease?﻿Bill Murphy: ﻿You bet it will, I like to play with my toys, so I wanted a way for folks to be able to remove the figures and then put them back into the package. If we can swing it, I'm gonna try to have a removable mini diorama that can come out of the box as well, but we have to fund first.

As a customizer, I love the Blank Slate addition to the line. Was there a lot of research done beforehand on the potential popularity of this concept before you introduced it to Amazing Heroes?Bill Murphy:It's funny you ask. The reason the Blank Slate became a figure in the line is because of the fans. I posted an image of him on Facebook to see if anyone was interested and everyone really loved the idea, so we made him into a "real" character and added him to the assortment.

Fresh Monkey Fiction was just at San Diego Comic Con promoting the Amazing Heroes Kickstarter campaign. How was your experience there and what was the reaction to the Amazing Heroes line among attendees?Bill Murphy:Comic Con was great!!! I feel so fortunate I get to go every year. I finally got to meet Ed Catto from Captain Action Enterprises in person. We also got to connect with some of the fans, at least the one's that could find us. Comic Con is a pretty big show, so it's easy to get lost in everything that's going on, but I was glad we could be there to meet everyone. If we're lucky enough to get Amazing Heroes off the ground, we'll try to get a booth so folks can find us next year.

Thank you so much for your time and for giving us a little more insight on Amazing Heroes. I can honestly say this line has piqued my interest on the golden age comics I have been missing out on.Bill Murphy: No problem, thanks for supporting the line and taking the time to chat. I encourage everyone to go to www.digitalcomicmuseum.com and read these classic books for free.